First TICK

Magicman · April 27, 2012, 11:51:35 PM

It wasn't itching, but I felt a strange bump between my sideburn and ear. I told PatD, "that feels like a tick". I can't help it, I snatched that sucker off. No picture because I fingernailed him to death.

I hates ticks.

There was a dog pen close to today's saw job. :-\

trim4u2nv · April 28, 2012, 03:33:34 AM

We own a farm 35 mins south of chicago. This year was the worst year I have ever seen for ticks. I have pulled off 5 this year so far. In the past seven years I had just 1. These are dog ticks but we are overrun with coyote, mice, woodchucks, deer, and hawks. Almost hit a fawn on the way to work in the middle of suburbia, but we border on the cook county forest preserves. Somebody said the very warm spring has something to do with the tick explosion.

SwampDonkey · April 28, 2012, 05:37:06 AM

I have rarely seen a deer tick, maybe 3 or 4 my whole life and two I got from being near a dead moose. Down in parts of NS the wood ticks are pretty thick. I'm staying home, where we only have flies to contend with. And it's still too cold for them by the looks of the new dusting of snow out there. I hope it stays 40 degrees all summer. ;D :D

WDH · April 28, 2012, 07:36:32 AM

I got one on me yesterday after walking over some (thick) property.

doctorb · April 28, 2012, 07:57:01 AM

I've had two dog ticks on me in the last week. Just felt them crawling' on my skin. Hadn't taken a bite from me yet. Not fond of them. Looks like it's going to be a bad year for the little buggers.

thecfarm · April 28, 2012, 08:04:12 AM

Found one on my dog and I use stuff too keep them off him. We don't have alot of ticks here. We never saw any here until about 5 years ago. My FIL use to have a fit if he walked his dogs here. Just because we live way out in the country we had to have ticks. He founds ticks on his dog at his place just about weekly. I don't think he has ever found any from here or I would hear about it.
I can count the ticks I found on me with one hand. And I think I got about most of them from other places.

sprucebunny · April 28, 2012, 08:10:32 AM

Had one crawling on my leg a week ago. There weren't even any leaves for them to hang around on . I hate them.

I usually discover them crawling on my neck when I'm at the grocery store on my way home from the woods. People look at you a little funny when you pick stuff off your neck and take a lighter to them in the meat aisle :D

westyswoods · April 28, 2012, 08:53:46 AM

When you live and or work in the woods they are a way of life. Too many people freak out over them, yup nobody likes the little suckers. Here in Wisconsin we have all kinds of nasty little critters.

It is amazing though that my wife seems to be a magnate for this little beast. Think she has picked four or five off this year and I have one. Two dogs and we are constantly finding them although we do use treatment.

One thing I will say is I have seen and have friends who have had lymes. It is and or can be a very nasty and crippling decease.

Got to go clear some garlic mustard before it sets seed pods. Way early this year as I've only got about another week before it is too late.

Westy ;D

LeeB · April 28, 2012, 10:32:38 AM

Northwest Arkansas must have a perfect environment for ticks. We started getting them about 2 months ago. I picked off at least 2 every day that I was home and most days 3 or 4. Like westyswoods said,"they're just a way of life" around my house. Lindy keeps guinees and they help a lot with keeping them knocked back around the house.

Jeff · April 28, 2012, 12:06:14 PM

I found one securly attached to me the day after I got home from being down south, but I actually think I got it here while working on something outside, and laying in the grass, but possibly I carried it home from the south. Two years ago was the first time we ever saw a tick here, and probably 5 years ago was the first we ever saw a tick in the part of the U.P. that we haunt. The tick that had me was a smaller than I had seen before variety. About the size of the head of a pin, maybe slightly bigger.

Norm · April 28, 2012, 12:28:34 PM

I'd keep a real close eye on the bite area and maybe consider a lymes test.

beenthere · April 28, 2012, 12:34:34 PM

Quote from: Jeff on April 28, 2012, 12:06:14 PM
............ The tick that had me was a smaller than I had seen before variety. About the size of the head of a pin, maybe slightly bigger.

That is the deer tick, and the culprit carrier of the lymes disease. Watch for the red circle around the spot.

Norm · April 28, 2012, 12:42:22 PM

Keep in mind that not every bite shows the red rash ring area.

Magicman · April 28, 2012, 01:09:56 PM

If it came from here, it sounds more like what we call the "little brown tick". No white spot or white spots on it's back. Just a solid light brown.

Mine yesterday had the multiple small white spots and was what we call a "dog tick". It was barely stuck although it did pull a bit of skin off. I had to really look to find the spot this morning.

RynSmith · April 28, 2012, 01:40:45 PM

Sounds like it was a young'un.

http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html

Magicman · April 28, 2012, 07:22:54 PM

Thanks for that Ryn. I had a Lone Star Nymph on me. I certainly did not know that the ticks with the multiple spots on the backs finally evolve into the Lone Star. Also that the "little brown tick" is simply a larva stage. I knew that "seed ticks" were babies because I have hatched them.

We commonly see the Blacklegged Tick on deer, and I am familiar with the adult Dog Tick.

doctorb · April 29, 2012, 10:51:48 AM

It's controversial after a known deer tick bite as to whether to start antibiotics against Lyme's disease or not, even if you don't ever show acute signs of the disease. Most Infectious Disease experts do not suggest starting antibiotics in this scenario. Some believe that it makes the disease go into it's "latent" phase and last longer, which can be really tough.

One interesting factoid concerns the now defunct Lyme's diease vaccination that was out years ago. It was the first vaccination to kill the infectious bacteria inside the vector (the tick), rather than inside you. Yep. The vaccine ccreated antibodies in your bloodstream that were injested by the tick when they bit you, sucking your blood into their bellies. Once there, the antibody degraded the Lyme's bacteria in the stomach of the tick, preventing you from getting infected. Pretty cool!

Unfortunately, the "penetration" of this three part vaccine was only about 85%, it didn't last too long and had to be boosted and/or repeated after a few years. The vaccine didn't sell, so it was removed from the market. As always, $ drive everything. :(

Jeff- I don't think you got that tick before your southern swing. If it was alive when you removed it, I think Magic gave it to you :D

Chuck White · April 30, 2012, 11:09:36 AM

I went to my doctor last hunting season to have an imbedded tick removed.

He removed it with a small pair of forcepts and said there was no real concern until a tick is attached 48 hours or more!

No further problems except parnoia (sp), how many of you seem to start itching, just reading about this stuff?

doctorb · April 30, 2012, 12:00:10 PM

The 48 hour rule is the standard thinking for disease transmission from a tick to human. They have to bite you first, so just finding one crawling on you, while it gives you the "willies", means you're still safe.

This is why head to toe tick checks should be done on kids daily. When you find a tick has bitten your child, you know it wasn't there yesterday and the liklihood of disease transmission is very small.

Jeff · April 30, 2012, 12:27:13 PM

Tomorrow is finally my neurologist appointment. The head aches are less often now, but still lurking. If I turn my head just right, or quickly, I can feel what I call the shadow of the pain in my head. Probably sounds crazy.

Texas Ranger · April 30, 2012, 12:54:58 PM

We call the little ones seed ticks, and they used to eat me up. Then the fire ant came along. Ticks are rare now, may have to put them in the endangered species category. Nah, but, the fire ants also cut down on army worms, quail, turkey and anything protean that lived on the ground.

WDH · April 30, 2012, 10:21:06 PM

I went for a walk in the river swamp today, and the ticks enjoyed it more than I did

.

Magicman · April 30, 2012, 11:31:39 PM

Folks here settle for nothing less that a Mayo Clinic test for Lyme Disease. A friend of mine had Lyme for over 5 years before it was finally diagnosed. His life and health was a wreck.

Jeff, It's hard to wish your ailment is or is not something, but the main thing is I do hope that something is found to cure it. I know for you, it has been too long. Keep us posted.